[kminehart]

> You have smaller family sizes; people retreat inside because now they have air conditioning and TV and they’re not out in the front yard socializing as much. So, for a lot of reasons, we begin to lose trust in each other.

I think that a bigger factor is the car-centric city and suburb design that started in the US after World War II. It was intended to give everyone what they wanted; a big house, a yard, consistency, etc., but it prevents anyone without a driver or a car & license from socializing and visiting a "third place." I think that it increased individual isolation even before the internet or social media existed and thus set the foundation for social media to be as big of an influence as it is.

[knallfrosch]

+1 and also want to mention that kids under 16 – what Haidt talks about – can't drive a car at all. Riding a bike is more cumbersome and unsafer than necessary.

As a German, the typical US city and its suburbs really represent a kid-hating hellscape.

[kminehart]

Yep. And it's gotten a lot worse over the last 70 years. http://guide.saferoutesinfo.org/introduction/the_decline_of_...